A personalist doctrine of providence: Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics III.3 in conversation with philosophical theology

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In this thesis I present a critical explication of Barth’s doctrine of providence
in Church Dogmatics III.3. I argue that Karl Barth’s doctrine of providence
developed throughout CD III.3 represents a ‘personalist’ revision of Reformed
orthodoxy which can only be understood through his ad hoc use of philosophical
resources. I claim that critics and supporters alike have missed the depth of Barth’s
revision of Reformed providence by failing to perceive his ad hoc use of
contemporaneous philosophical tools of the personal. Barth’s doctrine of providence
remains theology proper, and not philosophy, but cannot be understood without
philosophy. By setting Barth in conversation with three philosophical theologians,
Vincent Brümmer, John Macmurray and Austin Farrer, I attempt to show how far
Barth is from pre-modern understandings in his articulation of the doctrine of
providence. These conversations equip the reader to discern continuities and
discontinuities of Barth’s thought with 20th century personal, relational philosophy,
thereby making sense of many of Barth’s counterintuitive claims. For Barth, human
life is the continual double-agency of human self-determination and divine
determination. This life in covenant before God (coram Deo) constitutes the Godgiven
opportunity of human personhood. Seen in dialogue with personalist
philosophical thinkers, Barth’s doctrine of providence overcomes problematic
aspects of traditional Reformed views and grants limited time and space for personal
development. Providence sheds light on Barth’s ‘eternalizing’ eschatology in that
election establishes the objective reality of salvation for all creatures, while
providence explicates God’s active lordship in the human’s self-determination of
personal identity in history (the subjective formation of the person who is objectively
saved). Election describes God’s salvific work on behalf of creation solely in the
work of Jesus Christ. Providence determines the identity of those creatures in
relation with the personal God. The conversations I propose with philosophical
theologians enable the reader to discern a greater philosophical coherence in Barth’s
doctrine of providence. Through contrast with the philosophical theologians, Barth’s
christocentric and Trinitarian articulation gains clarity and significance. Building on
these philosophical comparisons, I attempt to assess Barth’s elaborations on entrenched debates concerning history as determined by divine action, human
freedom under divine providence, and the problem of evil in world-occurrence. I
argue that Barth’s ‘personalist’ post-Enlightenment providence as seen in the whole
of III.3 points to absolute confidence in God’s determination of all world-occurrence,
limited human autonomy of action under God’s universal providence, and an
explication of evil that strengthens the Christian in the face of suffering and injustice.